Bullion Prices Rally in October 2011

by Bullion Prices Staff on October 31, 2011

U.S. bullion prices ended the final trading day of month lower, but still ended with impressive October gains. Across the group of precious metals, gains in October were 6.3% for gold, 14.2% for silver, 6% for palladium and 5.5% for platinum.

On Monday, December gold futures tripped $22, or 1.3%, to $1,725.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold traded between an intraday range of between $1,705.50 an ounce and $1,746.50 an ounce. A stronger U.S. dollar was attributed to gold’s daily loss.

"The movements in the dollar … you have to chalk that up as the number-one negative for commodities in general on the day," Reuters quoted Bill O’Neill, partner of LOGIC Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

"It’s more of a risk-off day … gold has become a very choppy, volatile trading affair, which makes it a little less attractive as a flight-to-safety vehicle."

December silver futures prices declined 93.4 cents, or 2.6%, to $34.35 an ounce.

With their October increases, gold and silver added to their gains in 2011 with respective advances of 21.4% and 11%.

In PGM futures prices Monday, December palladium futures prices declined $17.20, or 2.6%, to $651.15 an ounce while January platinum futures prices fell $44.20, or 2.7%, to $1,607.60 an ounce.

Despite their October advances, both metals remain lower in 2011. Palladium is down 19% while platinum has fallen 9.6%.

United States Mint Bullion Coins

Monday offered little action for United States Mint bullion coins. The single gainer was the America Eagle Silver bullion coin, up 100,000. That increase likely relates to the sold out 25th Anniversary Set. The sets, limited to 100,000, include four collector Eagles and one bullion Eagle. They were released Thursday and sold out in under five hours. Since, their secondary market values have jumped even higher.

The latest available bullion sales are provided below in the daily, October and YTD 2011 columns. The official United States Mint bullion coin sales total for October should be known in one ortwo days, although they are not likely to change from what is shown below.

United States Mint 2011 Bullion Coin Sales Figures

Wednesday
Advances

October
Advances

2011
Totals

1 oz American Buffalo Gold

0

12,500

145,000

1 oz American Eagle Gold

0

46,000

806,000

1/2 oz American Eagle Gold

0

3,000

65,000

1/4 oz American Eagle Gold

0

6,000

78,000

1/10 oz American Eagle Gold

0

10,000

355,000

5 oz America the Beautiful Silver

not reported

390,000

1 oz American Eagle Silver

100,000

3,064,000

36,475,500

Notes. Figures above are in coins, not ounces sold. All figures have an "as of date" of Monday, October 31, 2011.

London Bullion Prices

London bullion prices were also lower Monday but higher in October. PM fixing prices included the following daily and monthly changes:

Gold declined $19, or 1.1%, to $1,722 an ounce. London gold rose 6.3% in October.

Silver lost $1.18, or 3.3%, to $34.24 an ounce. Silver rallied 12.4% this month.

Platinum declined $23, or 1.4%, to $1,606 an ounce. Platinum advanced 6.3% — the same percentage as gold, in October.

For a look back on how precious metals performed last month in London and in New York, which closed out the third quarter, read the BullionPricesToday.com article Bullion Prices Mixed in Third Quarter 2011.